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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23342671">wishes that linger and dreams that haunt</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/catsinouterspace/pseuds/catsinouterspace'>catsinouterspace</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Inner Dialogue, Internal Conflict</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:28:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23342671</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/catsinouterspace/pseuds/catsinouterspace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sasuke stretched his arms up above his head, the joints of his elbows popping. He had no idea of the time, the darkness of Orochimaru’s lair was always disorientating, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was running late for something. For what exactly, Sasuke was unsure</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>It's All in the Name (Take #1)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>wishes that linger and dreams that haunt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/gifts"></a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sasuke stretched his arms up above his head, the joints of his elbows popping. He had no idea of the time, the darkness of Orochimaru’s lair was always disorientating, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was running late for something. For <em>what </em>exactly, Sasuke was unsure. He wiped the sweat from his brow, the hideout was kept at an unnaturally high temperature, high enough to appease the snakes, and probably Orochimaru himself; Sasuke was <em>sure</em> that the man had some form of snake DNA in him at this point, probably one of his many experiments in a bid to flaunt death.</p><p>Sasuke despised the man for these experiments. What sort of weakling spent so long trying to defy the one thing that all creatures had in common? Sasuke knew that he had a black list to his name that numbered higher than the count of breaths he’d taken in his life, but at least when he’s time came, he would not try to avoid the inevitable. Every day since his clan was massacred was just stolen time, Sasuke had remained on this earth because he had a job to do. And that job meant he had to spend time with Orochimaru. The Leaf Village had served him as much as it could but now it was just holding him back, with an overly precautious Hokage, and more rules than he could poke a stick at, Sasuke really should have left as soon as he had finished his schooling-</p><p>
  <em>School.</em>
</p><p>That’s what he had been dreaming about. What a mundane thing. Sasuke was no stranger to nightmares; his life up until now had been the perfect fuel for them but a bad dream about being <em>late for school? </em>It was laughable.</p><p>Sasuke wished all his nightmares could be so simple. Fixed with an alarm clock, worst case scenario being a quick scolding from Iruka which would inevitably be interrupted by a much more pressing matter of one of the man’s more troublesome students. Sasuke’s lip quirked up at the thought of Iruka running off mid-sentence to chase after Naruto. Imagined Sakura huffing, pretending that she wasn’t even the <em>slightest </em>bit amused by the blond boy. Thought about how Shikamaru would use to opportunity to take a nap.</p><p>In moments such as these it was easy for Sasuke to think about what life could be like if he had chosen another path. The warrior he could be if he took his time, let Kakashi train him the secrets to the sharingan that the other man should not possess. The friends he could have had if he had chosen not to spurn them, taken any path that didn’t involve an attempt on his best friend’s life.</p><p>He’d seen lives like that played out before. He’d graduate from Genin to Chunin, work through the rest of the ranks, Jounin, then Special Jounin, and because he was <em>Sasuke Uchiha </em>he would adopt an ANBU mask and spend several years working in the black ops. When the job got to close to killing him, or started to drive him mad he’d be saddled with some fresh out of the academy Genin. He’d eventually retire, find himself a partner and have a few kids that would go and do it all again.</p><p>It didn’t actually sound horrible.</p><p>In-between all that stuff Sasuke knew there were ramen nights with Team 7 at Ichiraku’s, the wonders of new lands, the familiar beauty of Konoha’s redwoods, the occasional times where he didn’t want to strangle Sakura and Naruto and maybe felt some genuine affection to them.</p><p>Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut, exhaling deeply through his nose. He opened them again and pushed himself out of bed. There was no use dwelling on dreams and what could have been, all that mattered was what was and the duty he had sworn to fulfil.</p>
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